Of Love and Ignorance
by Rs223
Summary: Lily Luna Potter adores quirky muggle-born Lucas Drummand. If only he didn't hate her so much. A short story of Lily and Lucas learning to accept reality.


**Disclaimer**- I do not own the Harry Potter world and its characters. J.K. Rowling does.

**AN**- I'm in a romantic spirit after finishing my exams and this one-shot came to me. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Holidays!

Lily Luna Potter never thought she would become the obsessive type of women. She was raised with two brothers who taught her the ways boys operated and their irritation towards clingers.

Then, she met Lucas Edward Drummand and her attitude towards love and friendship changed overnight.

Lucas was a muggle-born wizard who strolled against the muggle-born norm of wild appreciation for the magical world. While most muggle-borns walked around Hogwarts and Diagon Alley amazed at the reality of magical occurrences, Lucas would mock the magical world as too 19th century for his taste and refused to relinquish his appreciation for electronics. Lucas launched at every opportunity to state why non-magical inventions were more effective than magic.

The first time Lily met Lucas was at Headmistress McGonnagull's office during their second year. Lucas was a Ravenclaw who spent most of his time among people in his house. Lily visited for tea with the lovable family friend and Lucas arrived to ask permission to depart the school grounds to a place where he could upgrade the videogame he had created the past summer on his laptop.

Lucas arrived when Lily was bragging about making the chaser position of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Lucas scoffed at the proclamation and said, "Your life may be great and all, but there are more important matters for the Headmistress to listen to, like, maybe, information concerning her job."

"Now, Mr. Drummand," McGonnagull reprimanded. "I appreciate your concern about what I do with my time, but I am always open for my students no matter what the reason may be."

Lucas accepted her answer and then made his requested to which the Headmistress reluctantly declined. "I can't allow my students to leave school besides the Hogsmeade trips. That would cause too many students acquiring the need to leave the school at every opportunity."

Afterwards, Lucas confronted Lily for using her family position for favors denied to ordinary students like him. Lucas called her an ungrateful bitch that schemed her way into good fortune and viewed herself as better than the commoners.

Throughout the years, Lily tried over and over to gain Lucas's friendship, and his love. Once, she wandered to his study area in the library and saw him pondering over his Ancient Rune's homework and offered aid. Lucas refused. Many times she requested he join her and her friends to Hogsmeade. Lucas refused and a few times yelled, "Stay away from me, you stalker."

After awhile, her friends demanded that Lily leave Lucas alone and spend more time with people who appreciated her. Her friends decried Lucas as a demeaning fool with a fowl attitude to life. They marked him as a boy that cared solely for himself and spent his time ridiculing others because he had no life beyond studying. They said he was unworthy for someone as sweet as Lily.

But Lily knew she was not sweet. She knew she was spoiled, demanding and loved attention. She knew she and Lucas had faults. Those faults were what Lily loved so much about Lucas. Lucas was special in the way he was unafraid to portray his opinions and be rude. The way he participated in class with a reckless fervor to do more than learn. Instead, Lucas would share details on how some non-magical tool could do the same thing as a magic trick. Lily loved learning about muggles and their heritage and appreciated Lucas for indirectly fulfilling that desire.

Today, Lily met her father in the cave outside Hogsmeade. Despite the stinking smell of the cave and the irritation sitting cross-legged on the dirt floor, Lily cherished her meetings with her father there. Lily loved the backstory that made this cave special. How it helped her father, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione and Sirius Black escape together to discuss the wonders of Voldemort's first regime and gain a close connection. Lily was glad to live in a safe world since she never had to worry about death, but she also craved adventure and wished she could fight in a war like the previous generations.

As she waited, Lily reflected on her horrible Ancient Rune test the day before. She could not believe how many runes there was that she did not study. The class kept surprising her with too much information that no matter how hard she tried she could not remember everything.

"Hi Lily," an excited voice relieved Lily from her stupor. Her dad stood on the mouth of the cave.

"Daddy," Lily cried excitedly.

After hugging, the two sat cross-legged on the floor across from each other in the tiny cave. They discussed how school was going, and laughed at Albus for receiving a detention on a Hogsmeade day and about Albus's brilliant prank. Albus stationed about a hundred cats he received from the large student body that owned cats to run around the Great Hall during dinner doing all kinds of crazy tricks. Jumping through muggle hola hoops that hanged from the ceiling and backflips.

The talk about the prank reminded Lily of Lucas refusing to supply his own. "And one guy, Lucas, refused to allow his cat participate," Lily shared. "He said he actually cared about his bet and didn't want to lose it. I think that was right of him, though most of the school disagrees. I mean, he is the only one who went against the status quo. And I love how he cares about his animal like I do with Padfoot."

Padfoot was Lily black lab that she named after Sirius since Sirius was Lily's favorite of the war heroes. She could not imagine being forced to live in prison for years and still holding on to hope. His troubles made hers with Lucas seem frivolous.

Lily continued, "He always gets on people's nerves for saying what they want to say. Like criticizing the horrible Charms teacher this year. Can you believe it? She's always refusing to let us work in partners to accomplish the charms and she just sits in her desk all class. And when Lucas calls her out on it, everyone hates him for the rest of the day. Poor Lucas."

Her dad smiled, "Seems like you have a crush."

"I do," Lily agreed bashfully, ducking her head to her right shoulder. "But he doesn't like me. He always refuses me and he hates me. He calls me spoiled and a brat. And he is the one who always complains about how much better muggle stuff is better than magic spells. I admit he's a bit mean and arrogant. But I love him."

Her dad laughed and clasped his hand on her shoulder, "Relax, Lily. Gosh, this reminds me of so many love stories. It seems us Potters are ridden with hard love lives."

Lily giggled. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. Your Grandmother Lily, refused to go out with your Grandfather James. She found him a bit arrogant. It took till their seventh year for her to like him. The cycle went the other way with me. I didn't like Ginny till sixth year while she was attracted to me."

"That's good and all, but how does knowing that help me," Lily wondered.

"Well," her father answered, "I can't speak for your grandparents, but your mother and I, well what it took was Ginny becoming herself and letting me discover if I liked her or not. Ginny transforming from a fangirl to the mother you know. A woman, while walking with fierce pride, who is determined to help the world gain the truth from the Daily Prophet and the woman who can fight prejudice authority figures. What Ginny did helps me understand what the best path someone should do surrounding one-sided love. What you need to do is let him be. He would either become someone who likes you back or he won't. If he is too ignorant to accept you, like you accept him, he's then not the one you need, just the one you want."

Lucas Edward Drummand never thought he would fall in love. For how outspoken he was about his opinions, Lucas was truly an introvert when it came to people. When Lucas tried to move conversations beyond "Hi's" and "How are you's?" he was always at a lost with what to say. Usually, he said something that irritated his conversation partner and cause the person to dash away in fury.

Lucas never imagined that someone would come up to him on his or her own free will. And then came Lily Luna Potter. Lucas adored the popular girl with bright red hair and an outstanding smile. That girl annoyed him to no end. The girl who achieved all the wishes Lucas wanted for his life. She made friends easily. She was accepted and loved by all the teachers in a genuine way. With a flick of her finger, she was allowed to leave school in emergencies. Everyone, including Lucas, appreciated her quirks.

Lucas loved the way Lily bounced away from conversations once she was bored with another person's blabbers. He, too, understood the need to keep moving and not stand tranquil. Lucas loved Lily's loose giggles reminiscent of hiccups.

Lucas just wanted that bright girl to allow him to think and give him time to respond to her. He wanted Lily to ignore his reflex response of "No's" and irritation. To try harder to achieve his acceptance of her offers. He wanted Lily to admit that she was privileged. He wanted Lily to abandon her ignorance of the real world. The real world where your dad lost his job and your force to leave your childhood home because increases in expensives. The real world Lucas was stuck with.

The last time Lily asked Lucas to join her to Hogsmeade, Lucas wanted to finally say yes, but he could not because his family needed him.

Lucas was happy to finally have a legitimate reason to leave school to help his family. His mother had a great job a banker, but it was not enough to fight against the obstacles of taxes, inflation in prices and paying the enormous fine for Gringotts.

Lucas had thought himself brilliant when he had the idea to trade gold Galleons for muggle money. However, the Ministry of Magic discovered the desperate attempt and provided the fine. Lucas doubted he could ever earn forgiveness from his family for his stupid choice.

Lucas's first step to his personal redemption was helping with the big move from Lucas and his younger siblings childhood home to an apartment in the Beckston district of London. His younger brother, Ethan, and sister, Darla, greeted him with warm hugs. His father nodded at him briskly and demanded that he start working. Lucas's mother was busy at her job.

As he boxed his video games and books into boxes, Lucas acquired a paper cut from his hand sliding against the paper of one of the books. His dry skin irritated Lucas because, no matter how much lotion he put on, it caused him frequent gains of these agonizing fiends.

Sighing, Lucas went to grab a band-aid and some TCP antiseptic cream from the bathroom. As he reached to the top shelf, Lucas noticed a picture of Ethan with his friend Michelle. The two looked so happy in the picture with grins on their faces and mud all over their skin. How he longed for that same happiness with someone, with Lily.

This arcane longing for Lily pecked Lucas as he returned to packing. He wondered what she would do if she played the games he packed. Would she enjoy them or find them ridiculous. As he packed his copy of a story on a strict war captain and his journey to acceptance, he remembered his favorite scene.

In the scene, the military man refused a mission because it would damage the homes of innocent civilians in Munich. One of the captain's soldiers witness the event and vowed to help the captain gain supporters of the cause to stop the mission. The soldier said, "The glint in your eyes tells wonders. It shares that your not who you appear to be. For so long I have been ignorant, refusing your orders because I found you controlling, but now I know, you're as human as the rest of us. You deserve my respect."

Lily smiled as sat alone near the Great Lake at Hogwarts. After her conversation with her father, Lily attitude soared thanks to her resolve to let Lucas live the way he liked. She had her father's appreciation and her friend's love and that was all she needed. She would ignore Lucas, but not date because she could not imagine dating anyone else.

The peaceful atmosphere enforced her love for life. Lily remained sitting by the lake, just breathing and enjoying her break from reality. She winced when the Giant Squids tentacles come near the shore when she realized something she never noticed before. The squid had a swollen face, a face deprived of emotion. At that moment, Lily realized the squid wanted someone to play with. The interest for the Giant Squid had diminished soon after Voldemort's Second Ware ended, leaving the squid void of companionship. Lily let go of her fear and jumped into the water to play with the gigantic beast.

When he returned to Hogwarts, Lucas was exhausted. He back was aching from lifting all the boxes into the move-in van and chasing after his younger siblings in the park. Still, he needed to find Lily and ask her out before his courage left him.

As he walked across the grounds, he noticed other student's were arriving back from Hogsmeade to their dorm. He noticed a Gryiffendor friend of Lily's, Nancy, and went up to her.

"Hi, Nancy," Lucas said tentatively.

"Yes," Nancy responded with a disinterested tone.

"Do you know where Lily is?"

"Lily Potter?"

"Yes, your friend."

"Oh, why? So you can ruin her day again?"

"No. I actually want to apologize."

"Well, probably by the lake. That's where she usually goes after these trips."

"Thanks," Lucas said before waving good-bye.

The day ended in a way Lily and Lucas never expected. As soon as he discovered Lily playing with the gigantic squid, Lucas relinquished the words he was going to say and instead jumped in to join her. The boy who praised his disliked for physical activity. Before he jumped, Lucas was scared, his body tightened, his temple throbbed. He thought about the dangers of playing with a wild animal. After he jumped, Lucas forgot all his worries, focusing instead of not being squashed by the Giant Squid and joking with Lily about the animal's crazy body movements.

The next day Lily and Lucas met at the library. Lily thanked Lucas for the spontaneous hang out and Lucas asked, "Go out with me." in the demanding tone adored solely by Lily.


End file.
